New escalators, new method

Since phase 2 of works began at St Enoch station in September, the transformation on site can be seen almost daily. Progress continues with great momentum, with some major aspects of this particular station’s overhaul happening quite literally overnight.

One such example of this is the recent installation of new escalators at street level. Historically, escalators installs have been both tricky and time consuming, given the combination of the size of the hardware itself and its snug fit within Subway stations.

To combat these constraints, every new escalator installed as part of Subway Modernisation has involved an intensive, three to four month-long approach. Existing escalators were dismantled from their structural frames piece by piece and new ones built back on to the frames, again, bit by bit.

The street level escalators at St Enoch, however, underwent a different approach which resulted in their being in place within a staggering 12 hours.

Two fully assembled escalators were delivered from a factory across Europe to Glasgow and hoisted into place as individual units. This differed from the usual method whereby escalators were delivered in their component parts and then built back together onsite in the stations.

Work on site continues to progress at pace so watch this space for more updates.